Bengaluru firm becomes first Indian Co to demonstrate edge computing in Space

BENGALURU: KaleidEO Space Systems, a startup based out of Bengaluru said it’s become the first Indian firm to demonstrate “edge computing” — a distributed computing framework that brings enterprise applications closer to data sources such as IoT devices or local edge servers — in Space.
A subsidiary of SatSure Analytics India, KaleidEO has generated insights from an image taken by an orbiting satellite in real time. It demonstrated deep learning-based algorithms to analyse imagery in orbit, as captured by Satellogic, a satellite constellation and data provider company based out of Montevideo, Uruguay.
“The hardware to run algorithms and implementation support was provided by KaleidEO’s partner Spiral Blue, a startup based out of Sydney, Australia. The demonstration further builds SatSure’s positioning within the space data analytics domain globally, with KaleidEO now adding the capability of analysing satellite imagery at the satellite itself,” a statement issued Tuesday read.
KaleidEO has built edge algorithms for cloud detection, road network and building footprint identification, waterbody detection, and image template matching for change detection. The firm said that the success of this technology demonstration is a ramp up to its mission of launching four satellites in 2025, which would have this edge computing capability.
SatSure co-founder and CTO Rashmit Singh Sukhmani said: “…This capability will enable us to address national security needs, real-time disaster response by governments and revolutionise the way we collect, process, analyse and downlink imagery and insights from satellite data for the benefit of all.”
As part of this demo, a novel engineering pipeline was demonstrated that can handle various stages of the image processing and movement of data seamlessly.
“An efficiency of almost 80 times faster was achieved, and the data volume reduction between the input and output (analysis-ready data) was around 99%, reducing the downlink cost. The demonstration was done on sub-meter resolution imagery, which very few companies in the world have achieved because of the challenges of handling larger sized images,” the firm said.
KaleidEO COO Arpan Kumar Sahoo said this technological advancement not only propels India onto the global stage but also empowers governments and industries to make informed decisions by increasing the value of information generated per bit.
KaleidEO has plans for aerial testing of its high-resolution high-swath optical and multi-spectral payload next month, whose success would lead to commencing manufacturing of the satellites and the payloads.
SatSure recently announced closing its Series A financing round for $15 million, a major portion of which is going towards capitalising KaleidEO.
“Current use cases which the firm caters to are spread across enabling farmer financial inclusion, improved debt service management in the rural areas, mortgage loan monitoring, enabling hyperlocal sales intelligence and distribution strategy for agrichemicals, aeronautical data management, vegetation monitoring for utilities, construction change detection, and commodities procurement intelligence, to name a few,” the statement read.